Hasn’t the international break been so, so entertaining? Are there really any positives for Arsenal fans during this two week hiatus? Well, when you think about it, there actually are a few.
It gives time for players to recover from injuries
This is a big one for the Arsenal squad. Our players often find themselves injured I’ve felt. However, a positive from the international break is that it gives them extra time to recover.
Instead of worrying about how we will survive without Laurent Koscielny in our next Premier League match, we don’t have too, because he will have two weeks to recover for it.
It does mean he misses two matches for France, but that’s no problem – unless you’re French. If we didn’t have the international break we could be moaning right now about how Koscielny’s absence cost us.
The same can be said for Özil as well – depending on who you ask. Furthermore, it’s another couple of weeks in which Santi Cazorla has been getting closer and closer to recovering, with no consequences.
It allow our players to find form
The international break can also help instil some confidence and form for our players. Alex Iwobi came off the bench to score the winning goal for Nigeria, sending them to the World Cup. The guy is a hero to Nigeria right now and deservedly so.
After scoring against Brighton and now this, Iwobi’s confidence will be sky high and hopefully he can carry on in the same vain. Even more importantly, the break saw Xhaka score for Switzerland in a 5-2 annihilation of Hungary.
It’s sad to admit that he has been struggling this season so far, so with any luck he could be bring back some form for the game against Watford.
The stress of a Gunner
Now, it’s far from ideal to not watch Arsenal play every week. But I don’t think any Gunner is missing the stress and heart problems that are usually associated with our performances.
Isn’t it refreshing to watch a game of football and not care about the result? I watched France vs Bulgaria, and couldn’t care less about what happened.
Sure, I wanted Lacazette to score, but apart from that, it was nice to watch a game as a neutral. It’s great to relax occasionally instead of ripping one’s hair out because Arsene Wenger substituted Lacazette early again and cost me points in Fantasy Football!
However, this all pales in comparison to the one negative point about the international break: It’s boring.
We are never entertained
We watch football because we want to be entertained, and the international break never seems to do that. Whether you’re watching England, France, Wales or South Africa in my case – we won 3-1 against Burkina Faso – it’s boring.
The scores are usually low and the quality on show is poor. The only aspect I find appealing is learning about the existence of a new country I had never heard of before.
San Marino, Cape Verde and Kosovo, just to name a few, are some countries I would never had known existed if it wasn’t for the international break.
In my opinion, there are more negatives to positives to the international break as a viewer, but the league action returns soon!